Pet Billy

The ship was not going to be finished anytime soon. Cook's craftsmanship was excellent, but he was clearly a perfectionist. On top of everyone having their own requirements, he needed to modify the ship, so it would take quite a while.

Rogge's pirate flag had been painted as well, and he had taken Shield Mountain's shattered shield to be reforged into fitness equipment.

Jelly had bought plenty of kitchenware and several refrigerators. To deal with unexpected situations, Cook added an engine to the ship, installed a massive battery, and fitted propellers onto the stern.

They also had ready-made weapons. They had dismantled several cannons from the other Bloodhand Pirates ships. In truth, none of them had any talent for shooting, and Rogge only wanted the cannons as decorations because they looked good.

Three days later, Rogge jumped up in satisfaction as he looked at the brand-new pirate ship.

The entire ship had been designed according to Rogge's requests. The bow featured a skull, except it had a pair of horns like bull horns, making it look terrifying. A cannon muzzle protruded from the skull's mouth.

The overall color scheme was a dim black, making it look much like a ghost ship. Jelly had been complaining the entire time, especially after seeing Rogge plant an orange tree aboard the ship. He complained even more that it had no sense of beauty whatsoever.

Black topped with green, with an orange tree growing on it—what a bizarre sight.

"Looks like the captain knows a thing or two about sailing. Actually, there's no need to plant an orange tree. As long as we prepare more jam, we can deal with scurvy," Ares said.

"You should've told me earlier." Without another word, Rogge uprooted the orange tree and tossed it into the sea.

"You're that practical?!" Ares stared blankly at Rogge's swift and decisive actions.

"I thought the orange tree was necessary. It looks much better this way, hahaha!" Rogge stood at the bow with his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

Cook ignored the crazed Rogge and asked the other three, "Have you all prepared your things? We're heading to the Grand Line."

"The food supplies are already OK," Jelly said with a smile.

"No problem on my end. I don't have much stuff anyway. I only bought a few books to pass the time at sea," Cook said.

"The medicinal supplies are all prepared. There aren't many of us, so I didn't stock too much, but the variety is complete. The West Blue black market has quite a few good things," Ares said.

"Looks like you've all overlooked something." Rogge suddenly landed behind them with a grin.

"What is it?" The four of them looked at Rogge, who had suddenly appeared, in confusion.

"Ta-da! This." Rogge raised a bag, squatted down, and opened it. A head poked out from inside.

"This is..."

When they saw the head in the bag, all four of them widened their eyes as though they had seen a ghost.

"Hahaha, how can we sail without a pet? What do you think of this little guy? I named him Billy." Rogge pulled the creature from the bag and held it out for the four of them to see.

"You bastard, we're going to the Grand Line, not on vacation! Why are you bringing a dog?" Jelly shouted.

"What's wrong with dogs? Can't I keep one? Who says I can't? Besides, don't you think it'll be boring at sea? Wouldn't it be great to have a dog for company? Haven't you heard of The Old Man and the Dog?!" Rogge roared at Jelly.

"No. Even if we're getting a pet, it can only be a cat. Cats are so much cuter." Jelly pressed his face right up against Rogge's and shouted.

"I'm the captain. On my ship, I'll keep whatever I want," Rogge snapped back.

"Here we go again." Ham covered his face, unable to watch any longer.

The more familiar Ham became with Rogge, the more he felt that Rogge had deceived him back then. The Rogge who had plotted with Ham and Jelly to kill the captain had been so calculating, capable, and ambitious. He had even planned the Heavenly Tribute robbery. Yet only a few days had passed, and he had become like this. Perhaps this was simply who he truly was.

It was hard to believe that someone with blood all over his hands would actually enjoy keeping a dog and would even fight his crew over such a trivial matter. He seemed like a completely different person.

After a round of arguing, Rogge won in the end. There was no helping it—he had already brought the dog, Billy, aboard the ship.

They raised sail and set out to sea. Cook stood at the helm and watched Rogge playing with the dog on the deck. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Captain, do you know what breed this dog is?"

"His name is Billy." Rogge did not even look up as he continued teasing the dog.

Cook paused before saying, "Then... what breed is Billy?"

"I don't know either. I just thought he looked pretty good. Look, he's black and white, with black mixed into white. The fur around his eyes is black, and he even has two white patches above his eyes. A dog like this has to be smart." Rogge fiddled with the dog's head.

"He looks a little like a gray wolf." Ham walked out holding a cup of coffee and a book tucked under his arm, then glanced at the dog.

"What gray wolf? I think he's just some mutt. Hmph." Jelly said irritably. Especially after hearing Rogge name the dog Billy, he disliked it even more.

His name was Jelly, and the dog was named Billy. Anyone who did not know better would think they were brothers.

"This should be a sled dog, right?" Ares came out and joined the discussion.

"A sled dog?" Rogge frowned. Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. He grabbed the dog and carefully studied its face.

"Yeah, I think I saw one before in a snowy kingdom. This kind of dog should only exist in the North Blue. They were domesticated from gray wolves. They're extremely resistant to cold and have great endurance. Some snow-covered countries raise them to pull sleds," Ares said.

Rogge stared into the dog's eyes, and the bad feeling in his heart grew stronger. If he was not mistaken, this was a kind of dog he had never seen before but whose reputation was famous.

"I happened to buy a book about dogs. Let me see if it has this dog's name. Its coat is very distinctive, so it shouldn't be hard to find." Ham set down his coffee, opened the book, and quickly began searching.

"Oh, found it." Ham flipped through a few pages and quickly found the information about the dog.

"Sled dogs... Hmm, there are three types of sled dogs. I was right, this should be a sled dog. Judging by its coat, the breed is a Husky..."

Thud!

Before Ham could finish, Rogge had already slammed his head into the deck.

"Hey, Rogge, are you all right?" Ham closed the book and asked in surprise.

"I-I'm fine." Rogge painfully turned his head, his expression extremely ugly.

"He's pretty cute." Cook reached out, picked up Billy, and looked at the dog's adorably vacant face.

"You won't be laughing once he grows up." Rogge lay sprawled on the ground, speaking weakly.